THERE is no greater honour for a footballer than to win the Ballon d’Or.
The prestigious France Football award is given to the best player in the world for the previous season.
And the best of all-time have taken it home.
In the past few years, generational talents Cristiano Ronaldo and Lionel Messi have swept up – with 12 awards between them in the past 13 years.
Since Kaka won it in 2007, ONLY Luka Modric has been able to claim the trophy from them.
Both global superstars have experienced the esteem of winning the prize.
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Ronaldo once said: “When you are nominated for the best player in Europe, the Ballon d’Or, playing in the Champions League, there is so much pressure.
“You don’t know what will happen. This pressure is inside you – you always have it.”
Argentine legend Messi edged Ronaldo and Robert Lewandowski to secure the prestigious award in 2021.
The 66th edition of the Ballon d’Or takes place tonight.
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The past kings of football crowned with the Ballon d’Or include the Brazilian Ronaldo and Michael Owen – SunSport will walk you through the crown winners and how many Ballon D’Or’s they have claimed.
Seven times
- Lionel Messi (2009, 2010, 2011, 2012, 2015, 2019, 2021)
Messi could arguably go down as the greatest player to ever grace the planet.
The Ballon D’Or stats certainly back that up.
He has a professional record of 691 goals in 826 games, spanning over 20 seasons at Barcelona and the past two terms at Paris Saint-Germain.
Five times
- Cristiano Ronaldo (2008, 2013, 2014, 2016, 2017)
Portuguese captain Ronaldo is one of the most determined and motivated athletes ever seen by sports fans.
The 37-year-old recently celebrated his 700th club goal.
Of Ronaldo’s 700 club goals – 144 have come for Manchester United.
A whopping 450 were for Real Madrid, while he notched 101 for Juventus.
The first five came while playing for first club Sporting Lisbon in Portugal and he has also bagged 117 for Portugal.
Three times
- Marco van Basten (1988, 1989, 1992)
The former Ajax and AC Milan hotshot won the award three times, scored one of the most iconic goals in football history and is generally considered one of the top centre-forwards of all time.
And that is despite playing through the pain barrier of a persistent ankle injury for most of his career which ultimately caused him to retire from playing at the age of 28.
- Michel Platini (1983, 1984, 1985)
Platini scored an incredible nine goals during the 1974 Euros to fire France to glory.
The midfielder scored 224 goals in 432 games.
- Johan Cruyff (1971, 1973, 1974)
His philosophy has left in indelible mark on the beautiful game, one which will last an eternity.
Under the guidance of manager Rinus Michels, Cruyff was the spearhead behind the revolutionary ‘Total Football’ style of play.
For lack of a better word, Cruyff ‘reinvented’ the game of football and changed it forever, one turn at a time.
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Two times
- Ronaldo (1997, 2002)
- Karl-Heinz Rummenigge (1980, 1981)
- Kevin Keegan (1978, 1979)
- Franz Beckenbauer (1972, 1976)
- Alfredo Di Stefano (1957, 1959)
One time
- Ronaldinho (2005)
- Andriy Shevchenko (2004)
- Pavel Nedved (2003)
- Michael Owen (2001)
- Luis Figo (2000)
- Rivaldo (1999)
- Zinedine Zidane (1998)
- Hristo Stoichkov (1994)
- Roberto Baggio (1993)
- Lothar Matthaus (1990)
- Ruud Gullit (1987)
- Allan Simonsen (1977)
- Gerd Muller (1970)
- Gianni Rivera (1969)
- George Best (1968)
- Bobby Charlton (1966)
- Eusebio (1965)
- Luis Suarez (1960)
- Raymond Kopa (1958)
Source: Soccer - thesun.co.uk
